Who From Carolina Would You Want?

The Carolina Hurricanes, like the Edmonton Oilers, stink. The ‘Canes have already started the “new era” in Carolina, naming Eric Staal captain, and asking the veterans to waive their no-trade clauses. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford is looking to start from scratch, and a fire sale seems to be all but a sure thing. The ‘Canes are a very veteran team, and unlike the Oilers, should be getting a decent return for a good number of them:

Ray Whitney

Matt Cullen

Scott Walker

Stephane Yelle

Manny Legace

Joe Corvo

Aaron Ward

Niclas Wallin

All of the above players will be UFA’s at the end of the season. Of these players, there are actually a few that I believe could fit in well with the Rangers. The first being the most obvious: Manny Legace. Legace is signed to a very cheap deal at the league minimum, and would be a very serviceable backup to Henrik Lundqvist, especially come playoff time. It might also give Chad Johnson’s and Matt Zaba’s cars a bit of a break.

The other that really interests me is Ray Whitney. Yes, he is oft-injured, but he is a point-per-game player when he’s healthy. I would welcome him on this team as a replacement of Christopher Higgins, assuming Higgins continues on the current pace of scoring roughly 10 goals this year, combined with 25 posts.

Juggling cap space for any of these deals is always going to be a problem. Part of that problem can be solved by dumping Ales Kotalik in Hartford, and allowing him to defect to the KHL. I’m sure the Rangers can find a way to clear enough space to make deals for both players work. Of course, sending Higgins over to Carolina to make the salaries work is another option.

To land both of these players, the Rangers would definitely have to surrender their 2nd round pick in 2010, a roster player (for cap purposes), and a few prospects. If I had to structure a deal involving all these players involved, it would look like this (Note: I am not predicting this trade, I am just saying that this is how a deal might look):

That’s just me though, I’m not in the “in crowd”, so I don’t know what the GMs are thinking. I would assume that players like McDonagh, Sanguinetti, Grachev, Stepan, or pretty much any of the young NHL roster guys, are strictly off-limits for a rental. I just structured a deal for what it might take to get each of these players individually, then combined the deals.

Whitney and Legace would definitely fill two holes on the Rangers, and am hoping that Sather is at least kicking the tires on the availability and price of these two veterans.

As much as I like Whitney, I’m not sure where we’d put him. Would we just make him a powerplay specialist, like Kotalik was (essentially)? On the other hand, Niclas Wallin would be a solid pick-up; he’s a smart, defensive-minded player that doesn’t take a ton of penalties.

When we traded Tytuin it was because we had depth on defense…yet next seadon we have to sign Kalinin..so, if u are parting with prospects..(He goal is to either get a prospect who fits a need or a young nhl ready player..not enough 30 something 5’w0 180 soft forwardand u can pick up Legace for a 5th round pick.

Rangers need to wait and chill for a lttle before they do anything becasue they are red hot and need to see how long it will last. They are not going to keep putting up touchdowns but if they keep scoring 3 & 4 gaols a game dont move anyone, Except Redden or Rozie. The Canes might want Rozzie (who has been playing much better, along with eveyone else) depending on how much house cleaning they do on their older D-men.

When we traded Tyutin it was because we had depth on defense…yet, next season we have to sign Kalinin..so, if u are parting with prospects..the goal is to either get a prospect who fits a need or a young nhl ready player..not another 30 something 5’10 180 lb soft forward. Also, I wouldn’t pick up Legace for anything more then a 5th round pick.

The point of a rental is to fill a hole temporarily for a playoff push. Kundratek and Sauer are #12 and #9 in the system. It is more important to hold on to Sanguinetti, McDonagh, and the other prospects that have higher ceilings than Kundratek.

If Sauer were going to make this team, he would have been a call up by now. Heikkinen and Sanguinetti are ahead of him, thus he has no purpose on this team. He is trade bait, and if it fetches us Whitney, I’m all for it.

You are right on Legace though, I think I paid more for the name than the role he would fill. Regardless, I think it takes more than a 5th rounder.